It's hard to imagine trying to design, research and produce new products to sell or license without the use of a computer!
This page has general information and links to aid you.
Backups and Virus Protection!
First the 2 basics in this day and age, backing up your data and keeping safe from viruses and spyware.
Backups - Bottom line is you just have to find a way to get it done, whether it's burning files to CD's or putting data on a USB Drive.
Free Options (Backups) -
Microsoft Operating systems Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
Make sure you have System Restore turned on, this won't help in the event of a hardware failure but for a virus or rouge software install it's a nice option to get up and running faster.
You can use free space from GOOGLE, YAHOO or Microsoft to backup documents and data. They all have free email accounts and space for several gigs of data. It might be a good idea to use a compression software package such as Winzip and password protect your data before uploading it.
You will not have a ton of space for pictures, music etc. documents however compress nicely for this type of solution.
Note - Set a task from your online email account / calendar or local email application to remind you to create and upload a backup equal to how often your data changes.
If you change documents daily upload daily, If you only edit files weekly or monthly remind yourself accordingly.
Backup up your pictures and images (and edit them), with a free software package from Google - Picasa http://picasa.google.com/ very nice and easy to use.
Fee Options (Backups) -
Although there are many ways and levels of backups for your PC I'll go over 2 popular options.
Local backups with a USB device -
Purchase a USB drive that is larger in size than your current hard drive.
Make sure the product you purchase comes with backup software to make it easier to manage. If you don't plan on doing a Full System backup and only want, pictures, music and data saved you can choose a much smaller USB drive.
Remember these devices are mechanical and do fail from time-to-time. If you backup often it's still a nice peace of mind having data stored in 2 locations.
Look at warranty information when comparing units before purchasing.
Online backups -
There are many different online backup services, we recommend Mozy by DECHO. This company has been around a long time with over 40,000 businesses picking Mozy for data backup.
The have FREE accounts for up to 2 Gigs of data and good pricing for unlimited backups. Mozy Online Backup - 2GB Free
Note: Don't forget to export your Bookmarks, Emails (if not online), Contacts etc. just search online for the application you have and instructions on exporting or saving this information.
Story -
A friend had purchased a new USB drive to "backup" the data from his laptop after his new son was born. He backed up once when he first set it up and as you might expect things got pretty busy around his house with a new baby.
When his son was around 15 months old, a tipped water glass destroyed his hard drive! Because of hardware damage, normal recovery software would not work so he took the drive to Best Buy - The "quote" $1,500 min. (The drive had to be sent to a clean lab!). Lesson - Find the time to backup.
Viruses and Malware etc.
There is a very good chance if you haven't had one already, or currently have one you will get one someday!
Free Options (Virus/Malware) -
Most viruses today come from the Internet, to be safe you need to protect your browser and other applications you use online.
For a great FREE add on for Web Browsers - visit http://mywot.com and download the WOT plugin for the browsers you use.
This addin identifies sites that you might not want to visit. It has a simple Green/Red light type warning system. It takes the guess work out of doing searches and wondering if the site you plan to enter is safe.
If your not currently running an antivirus, anti-malware package you can download and install a free package online. Some will bug you to buy the "Pro" version. The free version might not have as many features, be a little bit slower etc. but it's still better than not having any installed.
A good suite of protection software from an award winning company is Kaspersky Labs Internet Security - They have a No Risk, Money Back,No Questions ask Guarantee - Great protection and pricing. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009
Protection help -
Create a local user account on your Operating System with limited permissions, log on as this user when you plan Internet activity. If you hit malware or a virus it will not install on your system because it won't have the permissions to do so. This is not full proof but a good practice non the less.
Note: Remember to keep your Operating system updated with the latest security packages and fixes.
Very comparable to MS Office but it's FREE! It has very nice features and you can open/save documents created from MS Office. Easy to install and if you already know your way around MS Office it will be quick to learn.
Fee Based - Microsoft Office 2007 the leader and standard of Office Suite Software www.microsoft.com
Drawing / 3D Rendering -
Something every inventor should have (Although you can do a lot with Office Suite Software) it's just not the same as using a real drawing package.
Unfortunately the down side to great drawing packages both free and fee based is the learning curve associated with them.
It's best to try trial / demo versions, find the one you feel comfortable with and set aside some time every day to practice and learn the software.
Note: Drawing software can be taxing on your computers resources, if you haven't already done so now is the time to upgrade memory on your system.
